Chapter 26 Aiden
This wasn’t good.
I couldn’t even put into words how not good this plan was.
The door swung open as I rolled the bike closer to the curb, the girl on the back shifting her grip higher on my shoulders.
My teeth ground together, a moment in time where the world was calm until she stepped out.
Evie froze mid-step, a smile slipping off her face when her eyes landed on the stranger clinging to me. Her gaze narrowed, a slow simmer of rage I felt straight through my visor.
Perfect. This was exactly what I wanted.
I tightened my grip on the throttle, trying to drown out the sharp twist in my gut.
This was the plan—cut the thread before it strangled me, make her hate me enough to keep Rook from ever sniffing around for the truth.
One public, ugly reminder she and I were never going to happen.
She didn’t look away. Not when her hands fisted at her sides. Not when her jaw locked like she was holding back the kind of scene that would have everyone in the parking lot watching.
Good. Let her stew. Let her decide exactly how to burn me down.
I had to make a decision, and since Evie made sure to remind me this was all a game—I would remind myself not to burn it all down for a woman who didn’t want me.
But my chest still betrayed me, thrumming with the same pull that had me memorizing the way her lips parted like she was about to speak, the way her shoulders rose with every tight breath. The hurt in her eyes was a blade. The fact that I’d put it there was the twist.
Her heel dug into the pavement, and she spun away, stalking toward Zack like she was plucking ideas right from my worst nightmare. He smiled at her—the cocky grin across his face driving me closer to insanity. She didn’t glance back, but I tracked every sharp, perfect line of her anyway.
I should have felt vindicated, in control again.
Instead, my chest tightened with a sick twist I’d been trying to ignore since the moment I decided to do this.
Evie would see through it in a second. She’d know this wasn’t about the girl behind me.
It was about her. About me. About everything we weren’t allowed to have.
And when she realized I was cutting her off—publicly, deliberately—she’d hit back. She always did.
Her head tipped toward Zack, a small curve of her mouth growing as she spoke to him, low enough I couldn’t hear.
My jaw locked. I could see her shift right into full flirty body language as she leaned into him.
Then his head tilted, falling for every line and touch.
Evie was already moving her next piece into play.
No one else would notice, but I could read her—the stubborn set of her shoulders, the measured way she didn’t glance in my direction again. She wasn’t ignoring me.
She was baiting me.
I told myself not to bite.
But I was more concerned about the quiet voice adding a yet to the end of that thought.
I backed the bike up, angling myself better to take off, reminding myself I would now be one of those people. I would have to stop paying so much attention to her. This would be the night my obsession with Evie ends and her fascination with wrecking my life would be over.
Maybe if I told myself that enough times, it would make it true.
The entire pack moved to take off, everyone riding with a passenger tonight.
Rook and Regan pulled out of the parking lot, with Mason and Hero behind them.
Zack and I pulled out together, our bikes falling into an easy ride next to each other.
While Zack was newer to our group, he was growing on me.
But I didn’t love Evie riding with him because not only was Zack new to the group, but he was the newest to riding bikes.
Even Kane had been riding in some form most of his life.
Zack was brand new to it all and now had Evie on the back, waving her arms and encouraging him to go faster already.
The girl behind me shifted, her hand sliding up my arm like she had any claim to me.
The touch was wrong—hollow, but heavy, it belonged to a stranger.
It wasn’t steady or sure, like Evie’s. Her grip was always weightless, like she knew exactly where she belonged, like she felt completely safe with me, and that was grounding in a way I couldn’t explain.
But this? This only made my skin crawl.
I liked Evie’s brand of psycho. I liked her possessiveness, and that she felt it over me seemed surreal, but I couldn’t give it a chance to shine anymore. I wasn’t with Evie—she wasn’t mine, and yet I felt like shit for having another girl touch me.
Even worse, I knew how Evie would rip apart the world if she wanted me and saw someone else getting what she wanted. Her silence tonight was louder than any words she could have thrown. If she wanted me, she wouldn’t have walked away.
Right?
That thought should’ve been comforting—it should’ve helped me stick to the plan. But instead, it felt like I’d already lost something I never even had.
I had to remind myself why Evie had given me any interest from the start of this.
Blackmail.
She didn’t want me. She wanted something to pass the time until she found a new boyfriend.
She wanted someone to help her solve this wild mystery she seemed to find because she couldn’t ask Rook for help.
For all I knew, she had invited a guy over tonight and would be passing the time destroying his life next.
Zack swerved back and forth in front of me. One of Evie’s arms went up, the other wrapped around him. Jealousy burned deep in my chest, knowing it should be my fucking body she held on to.
Fuck, I was bad at this.
Had pushing her away somehow made it worse?
I turned on my intercom for the helmet, the one connecting all of us to each other. The only ones without it were our spare helmets that now sat on the girl behind me and the girl behind Mason.
Evie and Regan’s laughing filled my helmet, but I missed the joke.
“Whatever my backpack wants,” Zack said, the emphasis on the word setting my teeth on edge. “Tonight will be the night I attempt a wheelie, then.”
My body went rigid, the words taking a second to sink in.
Evie’s arms went up, yelling, before wrapping them back around Zack.
“What the fuck?” I asked, swerving around Hero to get next to Zack. “No, the fuck you aren’t, Zack.”
“Why not? Evie said to try.”
“And Evie told me to dye my fucking hair blue. We don’t always listen to Evie.”
“You’d look cute with blue hair.” The flirty tone of her voice sending a wave of pleasure through me.
“You are not practicing wheelies with Evie on the back. Try it one fucking time and you will never ride a fucking bike again,” I said, speeding up to get in front of him before slowing down. I wasn’t even going to risk him gaining enough speed and getting overconfident.
“Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?”
“The one who will kill you if Evie gets hurt. And if you have a problem with me telling you, feel free to get Rook’s opinion.”
Rook laughed. “Hurt my sister and you will be strung up in the yard for weeks. I can’t believe you are even fighting Aiden on this. You should consider it enough practice having her on with you at all.”
“I do know how to ride.”
“Yeah, but you don’t know how to do tricks. Try it on your own time without putting anyone else in danger.” I shook my head, finally moving out of his way when he mumbled about us messing up their night.
Their night.
As if they were out together or would be spending any time alone together.
My stomach churned again, this time threatening to bring up the drinks I’d had. Evie wouldn’t really go hide away with Zack, would she?
He did always seem to have a crush on her, and it’s not like he was ugly. I couldn’t imagine it was completely off the table.
Ahead of me, Evie leaned closer to Zack, her hair whipping back in the wind, and every muscle in my arms tensed.
She didn’t even have to touch me for the memory to hit—her chin brushing my shoulder, her knees locked against me like she belonged there.
Now she was giving that to him, and it made my hand ache on the throttle.
The world was cruel. When I finally tried to straighten up and push Evie away, it reminded me why I couldn’t trust such a perfect thing in the hands of anyone else.
The glare Evie gave me when she pulled off her helmet made me want to fall to my knees and beg for forgiveness.
She stayed calm, but I knew the look. The one that promised consequences.
I groaned, already half hard from the thought of Evie in punishment mode. The girl could breathe and I’d come undone, ready to drag her out of sight until I had her alone—no interruptions, no risk of anyone finding out.
So yeah, my plan to push her away was working great.
I knew if I ever did risk it all for her, I’d have to carve myself so deep into her bones there’d never be a chance of her letting me go.
We made it back to the house. The others sprawled out in the living room, lights low, Hero putting on some movie.
Evie walked in, saw the girl tucked under my arm, and stopped cold. That flicker in her eyes hit me like a shot of adrenaline.
She froze and narrowed her gaze, making me shift.
Her chest rose like she was about to speak, then she smiled—slow, sharp.
Fuck.
She turned to Hero. “All alone? Everyone else came home with someone. Why are you by yourself?”
Amusement tugged at Hero’s lips. “Well, drunk me got my dick pierced a few days ago. Sober me found out I can’t use it for weeks. I’ve never regretted a drunk decision more.”
Mason burst out laughing. Evie’s smile widened. “I told you to get a tattoo.”
“I already have my next tattoo booked,” Hero said. “It’s Regan’s design.”
“And I still can’t believe you are actually going to tattoo it on your body.” Regan gave a proud smile.
Evie sat beside him, draping her legs over his lap. Her hand wrapped around his bicep, casual, like she’d done it a hundred times.
“I swear to fuck, Hero,” Rook said, “I don’t care if your dick works—don’t start hitting on my sister.”
“She came to me,” Hero shot back. “And what’s so wrong with me? I’m a great choice.”
“Shut up and watch your movie.” Evie leaned closer to him. Her hand skimmed his arm. She looked at me, lips curving in a wicked smile.
At this point the knife was cutting me in half.
She was right there, close enough to touch, far enough to torture. And she knew exactly what she was doing.
Hero whispered something and she laughed, eyes finding mine again to hold my glare. That second too long was a spark to gasoline. I could feel my control burning away.
“Evie,” I said, forcing my voice even. “You look comfortable.”
“Oh, I am.” Her smile was all teeth. “You didn’t think you’d be the only one having fun tonight, did you?”
“The difference in my fun,” I grinned, “is my dick works. You two might have to get creative.”
Hero grinned, throwing an arm around her. “Lucky for us, I’m very creative.”
Rook groaned. Evie didn’t even look away from me. “Don’t worry. I’m plenty creative on my own.”
I swallowed. Every part of me knew she was about to make me regret tonight. And some sick part of me couldn’t wait.
The question wasn’t if I would let it happen or not—not anymore.
The only question I had would be if I beat her to it? Or would I let her sink her claws in and drag me to hell inch by painful inch?